News

December, 2009

• 22 December

  Settlements Still Leave Many Post-Breach Legal Woes for Heartland

  With two settlements announced in less than a week, merchant acquirer Heartland Payment Systems Inc. is putting some of the legal repercussions of its huge data breach behind it as 2009 draws to a close. But most of the legal troubles Heartland faces in the wake of the breach it …
• 18 December

  Hypercom And Ex-Boss of TNS Lay Plans to Spark Growth for HBNet

  Hypercom Corp. and the McDonnell Group are forming a joint venture to deliver high speed transaction transport services worldwide. The venture, which will acquire and operate Hypercom's 5-year-old HBNet transaction-transport service, will be called Phoenix Managed Networks LLC and will be headed by John (Jack) McDonnell, founder and former chief …
• 17 December

  Accel/Exchange Plans a Big Acquiring Push for Online PIN Debit

  The Accel/Exchange electronic funds transfer network, which on Nov. 9 became the first EFT network to roll out online PIN debit to consumers, is pleased with results so far and has plans to begin a major recruitment drive to sign up merchant acquirers for the program next year, says Michael …
• 17 December

  Will Consumers’ Shift Away from Credit Cards Outlast the Recession?

  Consumers have cut back their usage of credit cards in the past year, often on their own volition but also because suddenly risk-averse credit card issuers have closed millions of credit card accounts or reduced credit lines in their attempts to strengthen recession-racked balance sheets. Now the emerging question is …
• 15 December

  VeriFone Sees Promise in Mobile Apps And Taxi Transactions

  VeriFone Holdings Inc. swung to a welcome $3.69 million profit in its fourth fiscal 2009 quarter and sees evidence of recovery in its global markets, but the leading U.S. point-of-sale terminal provider isn't expecting a rebound in its North American business for a while. “It's still kind of a shaky …
• 15 December

  After a Difficult Year, Lawlor Exits As CEO at Online Resources

  Matthew P. Lawlor, the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive of Online Resources Corp., is retiring immediately as chief executive, the company announced early Tuesday. Lawlor will remain as chairman until Feb. 15 to assist with the transition, and then scale back to serving on the board of directors of the …
• 14 December

  Same-Day ACH Is ‘On Track,’ Says Fed, But Response Is Mixed

  A plan by the Federal Reserve to speed up certain automated clearing house transactions so they will clear on the same day they are initiated is “attracting interest” from financial institutions that use the Fed to handle their ACH traffic, says Richard Oliver, an executive vice president at the Federal …
• 11 December

  Eye on Prepaid: Facebook, Western Union, And Green Dot

  Prepaid card processors paired up with partners ranging from Facebook to Western Union to the MoneyPass surcharge-free ATM network in deals this week that expand the processors' distribution channels and transaction sources. In a cutting-edge deal that further opens up an Internet parallel to gift card giving, grocery chain Safeway …
• 10 December

  Upbeat News from First Data on Average Tickets, Same-Store Sales

  Christmas cheer for merchants and transaction processors came a little early this week with the news that both transaction volumes and dollar sales from cards for at least one major processor are finally trending up, yielding a scant but welcome uptick in average tickets. Even more encouraging: the increases came …
• 9 December

  As Online Bill Pay Surges, WEB Closes Gap with E-Check Leader ARC

  Paper-based bill payments continued their decline in the third quarter while Internet bill payments gained more ground, according to the latest automated clearing house data. The accounts receivable conversion (ARC) code for paper checks sent to billers' lockboxes and then converted into electronic checks had 583.8 million transactions in the …